New Friends, New Experiences

I am guilty of getting in ruts and getting in routines and not branching out. If I’m not careful I can look up and every week looks the same. Same work, same lunch in the same restaurant. Same Friday night, same weekend plans, everything.

Tonight I broke the mold on Friday nights and I’m glad that I did. This has been a really long week. Nothing bad or exciting has happened, it just has been long, and I really needed to shake things up a bit. High School Football started tonight, but I had absolutely not interest in going. I usually really enjoy it, but I didn’t want to have to deal with it all tonight, so I simply didn’t go.

Rather, I spent time tonight with a group of people that are as different from me as you can be. It was wonderful. Billy Weems is thePastor at Gordo UMC and he invited me over for a get together of pastors and friends to eat dinner and just hang out. It became clear after getting there that I was WAY out of the typical age range. The median age for the group is late 40s/ early 50’s. Most of them have grown children and grandchildren, and one has a newborn. You would think that this would be incredibly uncomfortable, and there was a moment when I thought that it would be, but it wasn’t at all. Despite the different places that we have come from and despite all of the very apparent differences it was a wonderful evening. Everyone laughed and cut up about work, life, stories from the past, and things that are going on in our lives.

I learned tonight that Billy Weems goes all out when cooking a hamburger. I learned that Roger Short is always good for a one liner when the opportunity presents itself. Penny Ford is simply hysterical and a wonderful mother. Nancy and Steve Cole have a wealth of life experiences and stories that would take months to tell. There were several others, but those stand out in my mind this late.

I think that there are times when we look at groups of people and decide that we can or can not fit in with those people simply because of predetermined lines that we draw in our own lives. I was reminded tonight that sometimes simply relaxing and getting to know people will help you meet and enjoy wonderful people that you would have missed out on.

I’m glad to have laid the foundation for new friendships and I’m excited about the things that I can learn from the group of people that I met tonight.